Clips are used in the medical sector for clamping blood vessels during surgery. The clips are usually U-shaped or V-shaped and are made from a wire-shaped material. By means of the clip applicator, the clips are applied laterally to the blood vessel that is to be closed, and the two free ends are bent towards one another, as a result of which the vessel lying between them is clamped such that there can be no more flow of blood.
In a particular surgical technique for repairing of blood vessels, a stent is inserted into a blood vessel, in most cases a main blood vessel, for example the aorta. To do so, the corresponding section of the aorta has to be clamped off from the blood flow in order to insert the stent. To do this, the aorta is cut open along its length in the clamped-off region.
After the stent has been inserted and sutured to the aorta, the clamping on both sides is removed again.
When the aorta is clamped off, blood flows back to organs via blood vessels branching off from the main blood vessel, for example via the arteries. Branching-off blood vessels of this kind in most cases have a diameter of 2 to 3 mm, and approximately six to eight such branching-off blood vessels are present in the region of the aorta.
Such a return flow has to be prevented, however. To do so, the corresponding organ or vessel has hitherto been closed by hand.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a clip which, during an surgery on a main blood vessel, permits closure of blood vessels that branch off from this main blood vessel.
It is an further object of the invention to provide a clip applicator for applying such a clip.